Tick Me Off
by eyeronik
Summary: Continuation of my one-shot: Over in a Tick / Keith lost Lance. At least, that's what he'd completely prepared himself to face. But when the team brings Lance back, tensions between both boys are higher than they'd ever been before. While a certain moody red paladin shuts out blue to protect himself, will he end up losing Lance anyways? It might be a price he's willing to pay.
1. ONE

IMPORTANT A/N: Welcome, to the official Chapter One of this fic I'm working on. First off, THIS IS A CONTINUATION of my one-shot Klance story Over in a Tick. It's a short read but I did not want to include the 4k word story with this one. If you like some good character angst and heart throb, I highly suggest you read that first before starting this. (Everything'll also make a lot more sense if you do) Without further ado, I present Tick Me Off!

* * *

" _I'm not dead!"_

That was the first thing Lance McClain thought as he felt a pain push through his chest. He definitely knew that he was bleeding. The last thing he remembered was flashing red lights and then a sudden burst of white. It was hard to figure out what all had happened to him in those seconds that Blue had been taken hostage by the robeast.

 _Blue._

He supposed that after realizing that he wasn't dead, the sharpshooter was able to make sense of his surroundings - not that they made much sense either way. His limbs were sprawled out against the hard surface of the planet. Not only that, but as soon as Lance moved his left leg he was slamming his jaw together in a silent bout of pain.

Looking down, he saw that it was broken. Another sharp stab of pain in his side led him to believe that he might have broken a couple ribs just as well. _No matter. You're cool. Collected. Calm._

He just had to find his helmet, and Keith - or _somebody_ \- would come and get him.

It was good to keep his mind and body busy with the pain. Otherwise, he would give into the sick feeling worming its way into his gut. The boy couldn't _feel_ anything. He couldn't feel his or any of the other's connections, and that was more painful than any of his broken bones.

With keeping busy on his mind, the blue paladin put all his strength into pushing himself into a sitting position. That was hard enough, but there was bits of iron dust floating around the area he'd crashed in. Why had he crashed here, anyways? There was no sign of Blue or the rest of the team. Even Lance's helmet was missing (which might have attested to why Lance was bleeding from his head).

Looking up, McClain made out the smoke trail where the cheetah robeast must have made its course up and back down again. _Bingo._

That trail marked his way back home. He wondered if he could make it as he was. The boy got to muttering about the unfair treatment from space as he bent over to inspect his legs. "I just mean, why's it always got to be the most talented member of the team?" he asked nobody, screwing up his face indignantly, "You don't see _Keith_ constantly fighting for his life or takin' naps in the Cryopod."

Lance immediately regretted looking at his own leg. It was definitely not looking so hot. On the contrary, it was cold and numb when he ran a light finger over the swollen blue notch in his knee. "Think I'm gonna be sick."

After Lance composed himself, he wondered how risky it would be to stand up at all. He'd heard of people losing consciousness from pain alone. If there was anything Lance was sure of, it would be the fact that he had to stay awake - at least until he found the others. Who knew how long that would take, though? There was only one real way to find out!

He regretted every moment of his life coming up to this one point as he got onto his one good leg. Then it was a mix of tragic yelps and hops as he fought through the excruciating pain. If there was something he learned doing this, it was the simple fact that passing out from pain alone was a very real thing. And Lance McClain was living proof not ten seconds later.

* * *

Keith was still staring at the mess of mangled metal littered around the crash site. He couldn't tell if he was angry or numb, but decided that both feelings weren't enough to truly describe how he felt. The red paladin's heart slammed into his chest, making every beat painfully hard to stomach. He should be stronger than this, right?

Of course he could lose somebody out here in space. He should have been preparing for that inevitable outcome. The next most practical plan of action would be to get back to the group and figure out what to do now that they'd lost the Blue Lion. How would they form Voltron? That was the most pressing issue at the moment.

He tensed up when he felt a hand on his shoulder, though he knew he wasn't as adverse to the human contact as he was on a regular day.

"We'll find him," the voice assured Keith, giving his shoulder a little squeeze. It was Shiro. Of course it was Shiro, because who else would it be? None of the others knew how to deal with him, and he was pretty sure that a few might even be scared of him at the moment. He did look a little out of it - like he was about to set the world on fire.

Keith glared at the mess that was the Blue Lion, "He's gone. You can't feel him, either."

Shiro was looking at Keith and back at the crash site, his lips curled into a frown. He truly couldn't feel Lance's energy anywhere near them, but it didn't mean their sharpshooter was lost, "Come on, Keith. You know as well as I do that Lance is stronger than one of Zarkon's toys. He's alive."

Before a second more was wasted, Keith tore himself away from his friend. He was beside himself with emotions he told himself he'd _never_ feel. The red paladin had guarded himself so thoroughly, that he had no way of making sense of himself when the pain broke through all his shields. But he did know that he was angry. Angry at Lance. Angry at Shiro. And angry at himself for not ever being enough. "Well, when you find him, I'll be back at the Castle. Figuring out what to do next."

* * *

A/N: Hello again! Thanks for reading this. If you like it, give it a follow or favorite it. I'm going to try to post a new chapter every Thursday and Monday if I can. Until then, stay happy fellow readers!


	2. TWO

"Allura, keep the castle close by, for now. Lance is missing," Shiro's voice played out through Keith's intercom. Furrowed brows and a dark gaze stuck to the ground on his way back to Red. The lion had taken to sitting still, eyes focused on the horizon. It was ironic to think that his lion was probably just as emotionally inept as he was. It was a robot after all.

Still, Keith had a hard time forgetting that these ships were borderline sentient. That should creep him out, but the small amount of comfort he received the moment Red let him into the cockpit made up for it. "Come on, Red. We're going back to the Castle."

It didn't move.

So Keith groaned and started up the ship manually, easing his controls to coax Red into obedience. Again, his lion won out and the red paladin felt his blood begin to boil. " _Damn it, Red._ He's gone. She's gone too. Now get back to the Castle."

By his lion's feet lay the crumpled form of Blue. Keith felt himself get sick whenever he looked at it. Allura and Shiro were swapping information, and it looked like Pidge was sending in some small robot to check the wreckage. Her words only pushed that knife deeper into Keith's chest.

"There's nothing here, Shiro. No form of life is showing up on the scanners."

The red paladin had heard enough of this, so he ripped his helmet off in a bout of impulsive rage and threw it against the wall of his lion. Lance would have called it a tantrum. But so what? Black hair fell over his face as he watched his team scurry about the wreckage, ending in Hunk jumping down to pry open Blue's mouth. "Why are you making me watch this? What's wrong with you?" His voice cracked through his dry throat, and his eyes stung dangerously.

Apparently, that was enough to get Red to move. What Keith had missed was the energy spike from Blue's beaten form in the pit. Eyes lit up for a brief second, the energy of the blue lion and its paladin surging through Red. And down below, Hunk was able to get Blue's mouth open.

"He's gone…" Hunk's brows moved together in confusion, "Shiro, Lance isn't in his lion. You don't think he was… you know, captured or something?"

"I don't know. But this gives us one thing. Hope."

Keith heard none of that because he'd chosen to throw a tantrum. And even if he had heard it, his mind was made up. He was going back to the Castle to train. Red lifted into the air, and Keith resumed piloting only to drop his jaw in exasperation when he still had no control. Instead, there was that overwhelming urge to trust his ship. It was the same feeling he'd connected with countless times before during countless battles. Red knew something that Keith didn't, and for the first time since Blue's impact – Keith was willing to listen.

The lion sped away from the rest of the group, marking a course towards the horizon it had been staring at earlier. Steel structures stuck up from the ground and twisted with the same maliciousness the rest of the planet held. Why any race would want to live in such a place was beyond Keith's imagination. Coran had said something about it wielding the finest metals this side of the universe. Still just looked like a rusty ball bearing to him.

"Woah, there! Red stop!" He didn't need to tell his ship to stop as it had been slowing down even before Keith had seen the broken body lying flat on metal earth. He nearly jumped out of his lion the moment it opened his mouth, and Keith was sprinting towards whom could only be Lance.

Dropping to his knees, the red paladin fought away that urge to cry, yet _again_. He was stronger than this. These damned feelings. It's why he and Lance weren't together. It's why they couldn't form Voltron. Why Lance couldn't look at him the same way he used to.

 _Why Lance was broken in the first place._

Keith's heart pounded in his chest as he began to hysterically check that his friend was breathing. "Lance," he muttered for a millionth time, "Come on, man." The slight rise and fall of the sharpshooter's chest was probably the most beautiful thing Keith had witnessed to date. But there was still the matter of McClain's brutally twisted leg.

"You're such an idiot," he whispered, glaring at the other as if he would be able to bite back. When only silence greeted Keith in return, he reached out hesitantly to brush ashy brown hair out of a certain idiot's forehead, "For all your moronic bragging about being the best, you better make it McClain. Otherwise, I'll have this to rub in your face for the rest of your life."

Why did he have to fall in love with a boy as infuriating as Lance? And who could say it wasn't some infatuation due to the fact that he was gay as shit, and Lance was the only one on board who'd been with guys before? It was immature, and pointless. But then Lance had to go and like Keith back, and it just became impossible.

This _hurt_. Didn't Lance get that? Seeing him like this again and again weakened Keith's resolve more and more each time. There was no doubt that Lance made Keith weaker. Feelings were nothing more than a foolish man's reach for a distraction. No matter how much he told himself all of this, it didn't make Keith love Lance any less.

The boy below him looked like he was sleeping, and if he hadn't been frowning – Keith would have thought his friend was sleeping peacefully. He knew better than to mistake this as anything peaceful, however. That leg was getting swollen and needed immediate attention. With this in mind, he tore himself away from Lance to pick up his helmet which rolled had into the farthest corner.

"I found Lance. But we need to get him to a healing pod as soon as possible because I'm pretty sure he's dying. Again."

* * *

A/N: First off, a quick thanks to those who've favorited and followed the story so far. Thanks a lot to you fellows, helps motivate me, a seasoned procrastinator, to write more. Also, for any new readers, if you liked this, let me know what you thought. If you didn't let me know how to improve. (Literally pulling the plot out of my ass as I go to be perfectly honest. You know how it is.) As always, stay happy. Hopefully I'll have an update next Thursday.


	3. THREE

Heyo! Sorry for a late chapter. I ended up doing a bunch of things with friends unexpectedly this past week. Anyways, here's a little bit of Lance and Keith interaction. I'm hellishly tired so it's not my best chapter. Still, it's readable. Enjoy.

* * *

Waking up was always the worst part of any trip to the healing pod. Lance was familiar with the feeling of his limbs sparking to life after being asleep for so long. You'd think that after being in a mysterious alien tube designed to heal wounds, you'd wake up feeling like a billion bucks. However, McClain could vouch for the fact that, no, you did not feel like a million bucks afterwards.

When he woke up and the pod opened for him automatically, he was alone in the room. This wasn't something he was really used to. There was usually some of the team out there. Hell, the first time he'd woken up, they'd all been there. Synchronizing their watches or something? He hadn't thought to ask at the time.

Lance yawned dramatically, figuring it was better this way, anyways. He could just go to his room and take a nap or something without anybody knowing. However, as soon as he took a step outside of the pod, he regretted moving instantly. Blinking, Lance looked down towards his knee.

It looked okay. Well, he wasn't really an expert on knees, so he _supposed_ it looked alright… for a knee. But that hardly did anything to explain why it sent a sharp little pain up his leg when he put weight on it. Hesitantly, he tested it again.

"Oh, ow. Ow ow ow, not cool," Lance frowned, looking around the room for something to lean on. He ended up with his back against the floor because there wasn't enough motivation to do much of anything else. Besides, staring at the ceiling of a space castle was still a billion times cooler than staring at the ceiling of his bedroom back home, and he was fond of it back home just as well.

Lance blinked every once in a while, but for the most part, he remained motionless and thoughtful. He still felt like he was lying in his own blood and confusion. Nothing ever made sense after he came out of the healing pod. It made even less sense now that his leg was still in pain. Maybe Coran could do something about that later.

Footsteps went unheard while the blue paladin closed his eyes. The hum of the spacecraft sometimes made you feel like you were drowning in water. But he could still breathe. It was a weird feeling. "Lance?" the voice was quiet, at first. But when the guy on the floor felt too lazy to respond, it got a little more hysteric. "Lance! _Fuck_. Hey, what are you doing on the- Are you okay?"

"Jeez, I'm _fine_ ," the boy opened his eyes to see Keith crouching down next to him with that worried little scowl he wore whenever Lance got so much as a papercut.

However, it quickly bled into annoyance the moment Lance met his darker gaze, "What are you doing on the floor, then? You have a bed, you know."

"Do I? Thanks for reminding me, mom." With that, Lance pushed himself up and tried to ignore the twinge of pain in his knee, "How long was I in there?"

Keith looked at the pod which had closed again after Lance had stepped out, "Not long enough. Do you really feel fine?"

"I feel like a million bucks, Keith."

"You were in there for, like, seven hours. Everybody else is asleep," the red paladin answered skeptically. It was a bit concerning, after all. Usually, Lance woke up after a few days so this was definitely something new.

With a small little grunt, Lance smoothed his fingers through his hair. He wasn't fine. He was very far from feeling fine, and being around Keith of all people was making him feel even less fine. There was nothing but a bad trip out to a planet to put between the issues those two were still dealing with. As far as Lance was concerned, they were supposed to be at each other's throats.

Or it was supposed to be awkward.

But it wasn't supposed to be this, and Keith wasn't supposed to look so damn appealing all of a sudden. Would it hurt to try to be civil with the guy? Maybe it was about time to start patching things up after so much tension. "Hey, uh. So, what happened, anyways?"

Keith was staring at Lance, his gaze never leaving the blue paladin for more than a few moments. It was the way the other was staring at him, like he was looking at the worst parts about himself in a mirror. Keith seemed distant. So naturally, Lance snapped his fingers in front of the guy's face. "Huh?"

"Damn, dude. You're acting like you're the one who just stepped out of a healing pod."

"I… what?"

"What _happened_? Where's Blue? Where are we? Status report, Mullet. A to B conversation with no C to distract us."

This earned a scoff from Keith as the boy took obvious offense to being treated like the moron all of a sudden, "You almost died. Again. One second, you were there and then you weren't. I found you like a mile away from the crash site."

"Wait. Crash site? Where's Blu-"

"Pidge and Hunk have been working with Coran to see what they can do, but other than that, I don't know," his voice was dry as he responded. It sounded like Keith didn't care. But to Lance, he could describe it as hearing somebody speak about a dead relative as casually as the weather.

So forgive him if he took a while to respond, "Oh."

"Yeah. Oh."

"Hey, what's your problem?" Lance's eyes narrowed after that, and he made some effort to stand up without letting Mr. Grumpy catch onto his discomfort.

"You're my problem. You're everybody's problem all the time. You can't even waste two precious ounces of your façade to admit that you're still in pain," the unexpected response from his rival, made Lance halt and tilt his head.

"What does my admitting anything have to do with you or anybody else? I'm alive! You should be _thrilled,_ " the strange amount of sarcasm in that comment left a sour note of truth on Lance's tongue, "Piss off, Mullet Brain."

A stern hand on his shoulder stopped Lance from limping away with dignity, and he was painfully wrenched around to face his teammate. Keith looked pissed. But when did he not? "Yeah. I'm thrilled. I'm absolutely ecstatic after finding your sorry ass broken and bloody for the millionth time out here in fuck all middle of nowhere."

"What's your point? You're being weird and confusing."

"No. I'm being straight with you. Seeing you die is not something I want to see, and you know why."

"Because you _wuv_ me?" Lance mocked, recalling the memory that they both knew Lance had seen. It was his turn to scoff as he started dusting Keith's hand off his shoulder. Too long, too touchy. _No Bueno._

"Because loving you is the last thing in a million galaxies that _I_ want. You're a bad pilot. You make more jokes than sense even on your best days. And you don't give a crap that people give a crap about you. I'll ask again, how are you?"

Lance glared at Keith, feeling oh so close to punching that greasy haired paladin in his stupid emotionally frustrating (and gorgeous) face. But no matter how much he wanted to prove Keith wrong, Lance couldn't seem to admit that anything was bothering him. It was Keith's own fault, anyways. How was he supposed to complain about his stupid leg after having some of his many faults blatantly pointed out already?

"I'm perfect, and you just can't handle it."

Despite having something to argue with, Keith stayed silent where he stood. There he went again, doing that staring thing. Lance hated that he knew when Keith was thinking. He hated that he knew what the guy's brows did when there were cogs turning in that brain of his. Lance had to hate Keith. He had to hate that Keith finally frowned and said in a smug voice, "You're gonna cost this team the war. And I'll have nothing to do with you when it happens."

* * *

Yay! You finished! Alright, if you liked this story so far, feel free to let me know with a review or a comment. Maybe give it a favorite, because I definitely use other people to motivate me to write. In any case, thanks for reading and as always, Stay Happy.


	4. FOUR

A/N: Hey there, so here's chapter four. It's a little longer than the other chapters, but I think that's definitely okay. Not gonna ramble, but I'll have a bit more of a life update at the end of the chapter.

Oh, yeah. So, I listen to music that inspires me to write like most people do. So I might add a song or two along the way. This song kinda reminds me of Lance and the feel of this particular fic - Fine, Great by Modern Baseball

* * *

Lance collapsed onto his bed, the walk away from Keith to his room taking longer than usual. He never bothered checking the time, wondering why the pod had spit him out early. The boy pulled his pants off gently, lip curling into a pained snarl as he edged the tight fabric away from his knee. The skin was a little discolored still.

He could see a small swell, but other than that, he figured it wasn't broken anymore. It was hard not to be sour that the healing pod had malfunctioned. It's not like Earth could have done any better. He may just have to deal with it for a while. That was hardly the thing bothering him most, anyways.

As the dark hum of his room washed over his aching body, Lance folded his face into his hands. Shaggy brown hair dropped shrouded his features as he struggled to control his breath. He'd almost died. And it was completely stupid the way he'd almost died _this time_. That robeast had come out of nowhere and none of his team would have seen it coming any better than he had.

It could be any one of them in his position right now. And he knew that he should be relieved it was him and nobody else, but Lance wasn't perfect. Okay. No. That was a horrible thought, and he immediately felt guilty. It should have been him, and if he could do it again, he'd make sure it was still him. Lance was just like that by default.

There was a very viable reason that Keith was getting sick of his almost dying all the time.

But it _wasn't_ his fault this time. Lance grit his teeth angrily as he wondered what made Keith so difficult. The night Lance had told the other that he kind of sort of liked him had been stuck in his head since. He was so good at pretending that conversation had never happened. He went back to teasing Keith and the other, while a little distant, would reciprocate. But….

 _I love him, Shiro. I can't get that cocky asshole out of my head long enough to think on this god damned ship. And it's starting to piss me off..._

Lance shook his head, groaning audibly as he collapsed back into the comfort in his own bed. He'd never meant to break into a memory like that. He didn't want to know that Keith had… had what? Loved him? It was pretty ironic how Keith figured Lance was the only one keeping things held up inside his mind for the good of the team.

And not only that, but _Shiro_ knew? He'd known for however long and hadn't said anything. It made a little more sense when he thought about the way Shiro watched the two of them fight. Lance rolled over on his side, staring at the wall as he surrendered to his inability to sleep. He wasn't dead.

He wasn't going to die.

He wasn't going to lose the war for the team just because Keith thought he would. Lance was stronger than the demons in the mirror, and when push came to shove, he'd prove Keith wrong. "I'm not gonna die. He's… he's just an idiot."

Lance couldn't get to sleep for another three hours.

* * *

Keith jolted with a start when he felt a hand on his shoulder. With eyes wide and breath shaking, it took him a little while to calm down. "Shiro…"

The older man was smiling warmly down at him, a little apologetic air tugging at his lips. The boy on the couch yawned and brought up his arms to stretch out any muscle tension. Had he fallen asleep on the couch? Apparently.

"How are you feeling, Keith?" Shiro asked, his voice always reaching that special octave between comforting and nagging. But Keith looked up anyways.

"I feel fine. Still a little… uh, you know."

The man nodded, taking a seat next to Keith and releasing a little sigh as he relaxed his back against the couch. The castle was still pretty quiet seeing as Hunk would be busy in the kitchen, Allura and Coran would be charting their next course, and… well, nobody really knew what a morning looked like for Pidge.

Of course, that only left Lance. Who Keith knew, would still be sleeping.

The red paladin groaned as he recalled the events of last night. Worry was still embedding itself into his chest. He couldn't help but give in to this absurd concern of his. He couldn't lose Lance. But he had to lose Lance so he could stop thinking about him. The whole situation was ridiculous and pointless. "Shiro, he's gonna be the death of me."

Of course Shiro laughed. Keith was acting like an angsty hormonal teen that just got grounded for sneaking out past ten. Immediately, he regretted saying anything. But then Shiro pulled him back to the couch before Keith could successfully run away. "Hey. Hey, Keith. Listen. It's okay to… I don't know," the man rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, "it's okay to have feelings."

"Gee. Thanks for the wisdom."

"Shut it. What I mean is, feelings don't make you weaker. You- we almost lost Lance. And everybody's still a little shaken up about what happened." Shiro got a little quieter and Keith had to wonder if his friend was somehow blaming himself. Keith didn't know what to say, but he didn't have to know since Shiro continued. "I know when you're angry. Just make sure you're angry at the right person. C'mon. Whatever Hunk's making, it smells great. Lance is missing out."

 _Be angry at the right person?_

What was that supposed to mean. Well, obviously not Lance. He already knew that he couldn't honestly blame Lance for this. Which again, gnawed on his guilty conscience. As he stood to follow Shiro, dark grey eyes stayed on the ground but they shot up when he caught onto Shiro's last words. "Er, about that. Lance is out. Of the pods. He was let out last night when you were all sleeping. He won't admit it, but I'm pretty sure that idiot's still hurting."

Shiro raised an eyebrow, glancing in the direction of the bedrooms, "That doesn't sound good. Why don't you check on him?"

"That's not a good ide-"

"Wasn't really asking, Keith. He's your teammate. Feelings or not, you've gotta start working on your relationship with the guy."

Keith opened his jaw, eyes widening in exasperation. Whose side was Shiro on, here? _Allura._ "She put you up to this, didn't she?"

"Who?"

"Asshole."

"Jerk," Shiro smiled fondly, ruffling Keith's hair and shoving him off in the direction of Lance's room, "And don't come back out until you apologize for whatever you said last night."

"I didn't…" Keith frowned, " _Fine._ "

...

Lance's room was always way too clean to make sense. He had some yarn and other hobby essential items lying around, but other than that, things were neat and in their place. It was completely different than Keith's own room. You didn't really care all that much about clean living spaces when you were shacked up in a little desert hut.

The first thing Keith had noticed was the clean room. The second pulled Keith's attention undivided towards the bed. His teammate wasn't wearing his usual nightly routine on his face, so he didn't look like some ridiculous diva. Instead, there was a dark bruise peeking out from behind Lance's hairline and spilling onto his forehead. His lip was split. And there was a delicate frown making the boy's sleep look just as unpleasant as the rest of him.

It tugged at Keith's heart to see him like this.

And as soon as the tugging started, he was automatically shunning himself for such thoughts. Clearing his throat, Keith cleared the room and folded his arms, "Lance. Hey, wake up."

Just a little grumble.

" _Lance_ ," he tried again, raising his voice, "Oh my God, I hate you so much sometimes." Leaning over, Keith gave the boy a little shake, expecting the other to lunge and attack him or something. Instead, he watched the other open his eyes slowly, blinking out exhaustion. When they met each other's gaze, Lance smiled.

He smiled. Why was he smiling? Wasn't he still angry at Keith? Also, why did it have to be such a cute smile? Cute. _Way to go, Keith._ Pushing that thought into his brain dumpster, Keith folded his arms before Lance could say anything stupid, "Its morning."

"Mm, is it?" Lance looked over at the clock beside his bed which was still going by Earth's time, "So it is. Only question now is, why are you in my room?"

"To get you out of bed."

"Better idea. How can I get you into bed?"

"Lance…"

" _Keith_!" the boy was grinning, looking up with that cocky expression of his. It made Keith want to punch him. And seriously, _just_ punch him. Lance rubbed the back of his neck, "Only joking. I don't sleep with assholes."

"You don't sleep with anybody."

" _Rude_. And that comment is exactly why I'll never be sleeping with you," Lance was still grinning and instead of it making Keith feel any better, it was irrationally pissing him off. What did Lance have to be happy about? It was so damn fake, he could feel the rage piling up. So annoying. But he didn't say anything because of what Shiro had said.

If Lance wanted to pretend everything was fine, then _fine_. But Keith wouldn't play along, "Just get up and get to breakfast. Then go see Coran about your knee. Unfortunately we can't fix anything about that brain of your- Lance?"

The other was getting up and brushing past Keith absently. He was still only in his boxers, having no shame as he moved around his own room. All of a sudden, Keith felt like he wasn't even there. Was Lance honestly just ignoring him, now? God, he was so immature. He wondered if he should apologize for the things he'd said the night before.

But would that fix anything? Keith still believed in what he'd said. He may have regretted saying them, but he'd meant every word of it. Because Lance was still Lance, and he wasn't fooling Keith one single ounce. An arm thrown around his shoulder stole him out of his thoughts, and Keith looked over at Lance, "What are you doing?"

"Using you. Now help me get to my boyfriend."

"Uh…"

"Hunk, Keith. I require sustenance and Shiro probably sent you over here to be my bitch."

Keith frowned, "I'll drop you."

"You wouldn't dare," the blue paladin smiled and pulled Keith closer, "You like this too much."

Keith's face got a tad bit darker, but otherwise, he didn't say anything or protest. Because yes, it killed him to admit that he liked being close to Lance. Even if he knew the other was merely doing it to make his life hell. He'd missed the chance for this to be anything else.

* * *

A/N: Alright! Thanks for reading up to this point. All regular thanks and all of that. So, I'm going on a family vacay for a week and a half so we'll see if I can write or get a chapter up. If I don't, please don't kill me. I'm weak and delicate. Like a porcelain doll. Kidding, in any case, I'll see you maybe with an update or maybe not with an update sometime next week. 33


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